Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham kick off the first leg of their Europa League semi-final at 5am Australian time on Friday morning knowing the must make the most of home advantage against Bodø/Glimt.
The Norwegian outfit travel to north London buoyed by a formidable home record on their artificial pitch situated north of the Arctic Circle where the second leg will be played in a week’s time.
It means Postecoglou’s side will be eager to walk away from their home tie with a comfortable advantage, after making hard work for themselves in the previous round against Eintracht Frankfurt.
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Tottenham dominated the first leg at home of the quarter-final but could only muster a 1-1 draw before travelling to Germany a week later where they prevailed 1-0.
Postecoglou, who received a strong show of support from star midfielder James Maddison in the build-up, wants his players to recreate their endeavour from that night last month, but add a little more polish to find the back of the net more often.
“I think you try and do that anyway,” the Australian said when asked about the importance of dominating at home in his match eve press conference.
“I think playing at home in Europe for every club has its advantages and you want to try to take that advantage. As you said, Bodo away is a difficult challenge.
“But having said that, we played really well against Frankfurt at home, should have won by three or four. We ended up drawing, but the important thing was that we played really well and were dominant.
“That gave us confidence. Frankfurt away wasn’t easy, their record is just as compelling as Bodo’s.
“I think tomorrow night what’s really important is that we put in another dominant performance. Hopefully if we create as many chances, this time they go in rather than hitting the crossbar and so forth.
“But I don’t think you just go into tomorrow night thinking you’re going to kill off the tie then. I think semi-finals for the most part tend to be pretty tight and I expect that tomorrow night.”
Spurs will be without captain Son Heung-min who remains sidelined with a foot injury, but otherwise, Postecoglou’s squad is a in a rare state of good health.
Injuries have plagued them all season, but the Australian is set to have an almost full-strength line-up to choose from, after resting key players during their 5-1 thrashing by Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
“I think we’re in a good place from that point of view,” Postecoglou said when asked about the fitness of the squad.
“Looking at the outputs of the players, I think we’ve got work into players who needed it. Others, we’ve had to manage, because with a season like ours, where guys like Romero and Van de Ven and Destiny, guys who’ve missed a lot of the season, it’s not just about getting them back, you’ve got to manage how you bring them back, how and when they play.
“Certainly all the guys we rested on the weekend – like Bentancur – all could have played – or like Pedro – on the weekend for sure. But it made sense for us to give them really good preparation.
“And the guys who played – Dom played 60, Madders played 45 – they’re in a good place physically absolutely.
“We’re going to need a big physical performance because again, Bodo work really hard as a team, but similarly to the Frankfurt games, I think the guys from a physical standpoint are in a good place to have a strong performance.”
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